


A Bright Light

by BlackBatsandCats



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Child Abuse, No Lily Evans and Severus Snape Friendship, Severus Snape Has a Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-11 09:44:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17444507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackBatsandCats/pseuds/BlackBatsandCats
Summary: People can be cruel. Severus knows this. It's all he's ever known.A 6 year old Severus Snape has become resigned to the fact that life it just everyone for themselves unless you get really lucky - which he's obviously not.So when a strange girl named Aurora Nightshade comes into his life and is nice to him for nothing more than the sake of being nice and actually wanting friends - friends with Severus of all people - he doesn't know what to think.





	1. Aurora Meets Severus

**May 20, 1966; Spinners End, Outside**

 

Aurora Nightshade was wandering around outside of Spinners End and was in her own world.

 

“Crazy….cats... candy….oh! Cats! And funtime with fluffy, pink, bat, cotton candy dresses so that we can eat them!....Sing...No..that wouldn’t work..I’m not crazy you crazy are!”

 

She paused. Now she really did sound crazy to herself. She saw something black out of the corner of her eye and turned around. She locked eyes with a boy. Killing-Curse green eyes met Onyx black eyes. The boy left his hiding place and ran. She followed.

 

Looking back at this Aurora wondered why she had chased a potentially dangerous boy into a very dangerous neighborhood. After all, she knew that it was very dangerous world and that Spinners End was one of the more dangerous places, and so Aurora wondered why she had followed him without thinking.

 

But she didn’t and, as far as she was concerned, that was one of the very best decisions that she had made in her entire life.

 

Aurora had chased the boy and realized a few things about his appearance. One was that his hair was greasy. Another was that he was wearing oversized clothes, like they belonged to an adult.

 

But with the exception of tracking the boy down, none of that mattered, all Aurora wanted to do was meet the boy and she was determined not to give up!

 

The boy began to slow down. Apparently he wasn’t in good shape for running. Aurora ran faster to catch up with him. _She almost had him._

 

She ran ever faster, but there was no need; the boy was panting and out of breath, breathing so hard that Aurora became concerned for him.

 

When she finally, _finally_ caught up with him she grabbed his left wrist. The greasy-haired boy froze. Then he slowly looked at her. Aurora stared right back.

 

She blinked as she saw the boy’s face. His left cheek was purple and bruised and it looked very painful. His right wrist was a bit odd, it could be broken. He breathed a bit funnily too. Most importantly was his eyes. The boy had Onyx black eyes, a color that Aurora found fascinating, and they were alarmed and frozen and looking right into hers.

 

Aurora opened her mouth to say something then she closed it. What could she say? She only had wanted...actually...Aurora wasn’t entirely sure why she had chased the boy. Was it because she was bored? She couldn’t say, she didn’t know herself.

 

“...Uhhh...” She forced herself to speak. “Hi...um...who are you? Oh! And, uh, I’m Aurora...” She trailed off. She felt like an idiot. What was she thinking? Chasing after someone without any sort of reason? And now she was refusing to let him go in fear that he would run away! She didn’t know what she was doing.

 

The boy stared at her, as though he thought that she was insane. And she wasn’t! Really! She didn’t even know why he was even looking at her like that!

 

Finally the boy broke the silence and spoke, “Hi.” the boy said this slowly. Aurora somehow noted that he had an interesting voice. The boy spoke once more. “Could you please let me go?”

 

Aurora blinked. Well, that was unexpected. “Um..well...I don’t think that I want to…because you might run away.” She felt the need to explain herself like she usually did. “And I don’t want you to.”

 

The boy looked like he thought that she had reached new levels of insanity, which made her uncomfortable. _Why was he looking at her like that?_

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Severus wondered how he got himself into this situation.

 

It all started when he was wandering around Spinner End like he usually did to get out of the house. He didn’t like his father beating him or his mother telling his father to beat him instead of her.

 

So he wandered around and wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary (women gossiping, the men and women sneering at him because of his looks even his theirs wasn’t much better, etc.) and so when he heard one voice, a girl’s voice, talking and couldn’t hear any sort of response, Severus had decided to see who the girl was talking to.

 

Severus had spied on her and was utterly befuddled by what he saw. As it turned out, the girl wasn’t talking to anyone. She was talking outloud to _herself!_

 

After less than a minute of hearing her talk aloud to herself - about something _crazy_ and _weird_ and _didn’t understand_ \- he decided that he was _not_ going to get involved with her. Severus did _not_ want to become crazy. When she had stopped and they locked eyes, he had decided that, unless he wanted to get her craziness, he had to go - fast!

 

And he had tried to run away, but two of his ribs were broken so it was difficult for him to breathe while walking, running just made it worse. And so the strange girl caught up with him and gripped his left wrist tightly whether she knew it or not.

 

The girl - Aurora, she introduced herself - was strange. Severus had decided that he didn’t wanted her near him, but Severus’ magic had decided that the girl was trustworthy.

 

And he _still_ didn’t know _why!_ Severus had tried to come into contact with his magic to find the answer, but his magic didn’t respond. He didn’t know if that meant that his magic was healing him - and so had no time to answer - or if his magic had just refused to answer.

 

Severus wasn’t sure what he should do. The girl had him trapped and he couldn't see a way to get out without giving away his hiding places and where he lived. What was he going to do?

 

Aurora spoke again. “So…how about..well..how about you come over to my house? You look like your hurt..” she trailed off hesitantly.

 

Severus tugged his left arm, hoping that it would convey the message that, no, he most certainly did _not_ want to go over to her house. Who knows what kind of horrors would be there?

 

The girl looked conflicted for a moment before seeming to come to a decision. She glanced at Severus’ injuries and tightened her grip on his arm as she pulled him along to where her house would be.

 


	2. A Worried Aunt Serenity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora takes Severus to her house

To be honest, Aurora didn’t know why she felt so attached to the strangely dressed boy.

 

She knew that it wasn’t because he was abused. She had helped out someone who was abused before.

 

One year ago Aurora had come across an obviously abused boy named Zach Richards and her heart hurt for him.

 

Aurora had brought him to her parents, who did their best to patch him up. Afterwards, Aurora’s father had called the police station for an abuse case.

 

The policemen had come and inspected the boy and got their information before saying that they would do all that they could.

 

Aurora, however, had felt that while the would investigate, that they wouldn’t try very hard and Zach would be forced to go back to his abusive parents. So she had innocently asked if they would be able to do it and pulled every power that she had to convince them to save Zach. It had worked. There was an investigation that lasted one day and the trial was the next, followed by Zach’s parents being inside of prison less than 2 hours later.

 

While that happened Zach had been staying with the Nightshades until his guardianship had been given to his paternal aunt and uncle, who treated Zach like he was one of their own, along with their two children.

 

Aurora hadn’t felt attached to Zach, so why did she feel so attached to the black-eyed boy?

 

That was a mystery for later. Right now Aurora needed to help heal his injuries.

 

As she got closer to her house she saw her aunt looking around frantically and winced.

 

Her Aunt Serenity was supposed to be watching her while her parents were in the hospital.

 

The Nightshades, consisting of Aurora, her parents, and her maternal aunt, were visiting England from America. While they had done this Aurora’s mother was pregnant with her second child. Just last night Aurora’s mother had been driven to the hospital by Aurora’s father and so her Aunt Serenity was looking after her niece. Or, at least, she was supposed to be. Aurora had just been let outside where her aunt could easily see her through the window while she folded the laundry and clearly see the surroundings for danger from a good mile. Aurora had been in her aunt’s line of vision until she had seen the greasy-haired boy and, for some reason, Aurora didn’t think that her aunt would accept that as a good reason to run into a dangerous place without adult supervision (although, looking back on it she did have a very good point).

 

Aunt Serenity didn’t work out, but somehow she moved at the speed of a trained athlete to reach Aurora.

 

When her mother’s sister reached her she immediately pulled Aurora into a hug, paying no mind to the boy Aurora had been pulling along with her. She inspected her niece for injuries and sighed in relief when she found none.

 

“Aurora Amara Nightshade! Just what did you think you were doing!” Aunt Serenity demanded. Finally, Aunt Serenity opened her mouth to really scold her after that warm-up and noticed the injured boy. Whatever Aunt Serenity was going to say died in her throat as her eyes took in his injuries.

 

“Aurora,” Aunt Serenity said, forced calmness in her voice. “Who is this boy?”

 

Aurora opened her mouth to answer. Then, she realized that she didn’t know the boy’s name. She turned to him. “I just realized that I don’t know your name.” The boy looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. Not that Aurora was going to let him. He was hurt and just like with Zach she knew that he was being abused. Aurora was not going to let him go back to that abusive household.

 

The boy opened his mouth - and somehow Aurora just _knew_ that he was going to lie. She tightened her grip and they locked eyes. Aurora frowned. Then she tried the same trick that she did to the muggle policemen. She tried to create and bring up the feelings that would make him do what she said.

 

The boy suddenly went rigid. He looked at her in disbelief. He opened his mouth. Then closed it. He repeat that action once more before relenting to Aurora’s power. “Severus,” he said finally. “Severus Snape.”

 

Aunt Serenity watched their confrontation with a confused look and narrowed eyes. She wanted to ask what was going on, but then she glanced at the boy and decided to wait until after tending to his injuries. Sighing, Aunt Serenity walked behind the two and guided them into the house.


	3. Nightshades Are Deadly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You do not mess with a Nightshade. Ever.

Aunt Serenity didn’t take her eyes off of her niece and her companion during their walk to the house. Aurora tried not to outwardly wince at that. She had prodded her aunt’s feelings and felt her immense fear, worry, and panic. Aurora knew that she was going to be punished. She could have changed it - she knew that she could manipulate people and their feelings - but she chose not to.

 

_I don’t want to be a crazy, power-lover that uses my power to control everyone and everything._

 

The trio entered the house and Aurora dragged Severus to the table and they both sat down. All the while Aurora had not let up on her mercilessly firm grip on the boy’s wrist. Aurora was sure that it would heal later. She felt bad though. Aurora had felt that he was in pain from her grip and he felt...afraid? Why? Did he think that Aurora was going to hit him?

 

Aurora glanced over at his injuries. _Probably._

 

Serenity hesitated. On one hand the boy needed medical help, as soon as possible. On the other she didn’t want to let her niece out of sight again.

 

Serenity shot a quick look at the children. With the way Aurora was holding the boy there was clearly no way she was going anywhere, and the boy wasn’t in any shape to fight back… she reluctantly and quickly went upstairs to get the medical supplies.

 

Aurora picked up hurt people and brought them to their house far too often for them not to have any medical supplies on hand. And she was only six years old! What would she be like when she got older?

 

Aurora watched her Aunt Serenity hurry up the stairs before awkwardly catching Onyx Black eyes. She looked away.

 

Severus couldn’t stop staring at his captor in disbelief. Did she actually bring him, a stranger, into her home without any concern about anything? Actually chase him down in a very dangerous place without any sort of reason whatsoever? What was wrong with her? He mentally brought her up 8 levels on the insanity chart.

 

“Sooo…” Aurora mentally beatrated herself. This was too awkward for her liking. “are-” she caught herself. Obviously he wasn’t alright. Instead, she forced herself to ask a personal question that she was quite sure she knew that answer to. “How did you get hurt?”

 

Severus became guarded in the blink of an eye. “That’s none of your business!” he snapped at her. There was a tinge of nervousness in his voice.

 

Aurora frowned. “But your hurt!” she said, as though it would explain everything. “And I want to help you not get hurt!”

 

Severus tried to lean away from her. He opened his mouth to reply, then he heard soles of shoes come into contact with the stairs. He snapped his mouth shut and kept silent.

 

Serenity looked at the two and briefly wondered if she should have stayed upstairs and let the children talk to each other, but then dismissed it. She didn’t want to lose her niece again.

 

Aunt Serenity put down the kit on the table and opened it up. She turned to the Severus to assess his injuries. When Aunt Serenity suddenly put her hand on Severus’ cheek he automatically flinched away, then cursed himself for doing so.

 

If the woman tried to do something about his father she would fail and then Tobias would beat Severus even worse! Not only that, Tobias had promised Severus that if he said anything to anyone else he would make sure that the disgusting feeling - and looking - man at his workplace, who always looked at Severus in a way that would make him feel terrified and frightened, would ‘play’ with him. Severus didn’t know what exactly his father meant by that, but his tone was more than enough to let Severus know that he didn’t want to find out about it first hand!

 

Aurora noticed his flinch. She tapped into his emotions and felt his fear. She decided that he was never going back to his parents; they were keeping him.

 

Serenity noticed his flinch as well and wasn’t pleased to know that he was abused. Why did people abuse children? Children were gifts! Serenity calmed herself by imagining the tortures that she wished to do on child abusers and pediaphiles. The day Aurora went to Ilvermorny was the day she was going to calm and get rid of her frustrations by taking them out on child-hurters. They deserved all the pain Serenity could give them and more.

 

Serenity slowly put her hands on him and checked him over before doing her best to apply the correct remedy for the poor boy. All the while, inwardly raging and imagining what she was going to do to the boy’s - Severus - guardians when she got her hands on them.

 

Severus wanted the women to stay far away from him. He didn’t know her and he didn’t want to either. He was quite sure that she was violent. Severus had spent enough time around Tobias and his friends to know how to tell them. He was very sure that Aurora was extremely bloodthirsty too. But the woman wasn’t hurting him. So who was she angry at?

 

Aurora didn’t understand death perfectly, but she did, however, understand that it meant going away forever and not in the way where they are sent to jail. If Severus’ parents were dead Aurora wouldn’t mind. She knew that they were the cause. She knew that the father did most of the beating while the mother did a little of it using her hands and some more by hurting Sev’s feelings and Aurora wasn’t happy about it. She decided that she was going to make sure that Severus stayed with her. Then, she was going to find some way to make them regret what they did to Sev. Oh, yes… Aurora was going to find some way to make them pay.

 


End file.
